Feds want your input on Animal Welfare Act enforcement & much, much more; comment period extended another 30 days WASHINGTON D.C.––”In response to requests, stakeholders will have an additional 30 days to share their thoughts on the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) strategic plan to guide the […]
Vultures circling overhead are good news for Planet Earth
Both black vultures & turkey vultures are rapidly expanding U.S. range and numbers Feeling down about global warming, chemical pollution, and reports about loss of species? See the vultures circling overhead? Both black vultures and turkey vultures are rapidly expanding in numbers and range across the U.S. Turkey vultures have even appeared in southeastern Alaska […]
Robert Dole: why did Pacelle, Amundson, & Bershadker inflate his record?
Robert Dole, at best, had a good record on animal issues for a Trumpist––but he was no Hubert Humphrey, nor even a Richard Nixon Robert Joseph Dole, 98, the 1996 Republican presidential nominee, U.S. Senator from Kansas 1969-1996, and a Kansas member of the U.S. House of Representatives 1960-1968, died on December 5, 2021. Lauded […]
Behind the veil: live animal shipping & the Islamic New Year
Why what goes on quietly matters more than public slaughter after Ramadan JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia; GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa––Tonight, August 9, 2021, nearly two billion Muslims worldwide will quietly celebrate Hijri 1443, the Islamic New Year, marking 1,443 years since Muhammed led his disciples from Mecca to Medina in 622 Anno Domini on the Christian calendar. […]
Australian sheep export to Bahrain meets “bloody & miserable end” in Pakistan
22,000 sheep culled in secret KARACHI, Pakistan––The Livestock Department of the state government of Sindh, Pakistan on October 20, 2012 killed the last of 22,000 sheep who were shipped from Fremantle, Australia to Bahrain on August 4, 2012 aboard the Wellard Rural Exports transporter Ocean Drover, Malir district deputy commissioner Kazi Jan Muhammad told Ghulam […]
COVID-19: far more U.S. meat workers hit than Wuhan “wet market” staff
Infectious as “wet markets” are, U.S. slaughterhouse conditions appear to be much worse WATERLOO & SIOUX CITY, Iowa; SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota––COVID-19 has infected hundreds of U.S. slaughterhouse workers, who may have spread the pandemic disease to whole cities, USA Today reported late on April 22, 2020. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, […]
USDA Slaughterhouse Deregulation: Pigs in Peril
Guest column by Gail A. Eisnitz In December 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will implement its “modernization” plan for the slaughter of pigs by turning over key inspection duties to the very industry it regulates. While current regulations allow slaughterhouses to kill a staggering 1,106 pigs per hour – or one pig every three […]
Are kosher & halal slaughter bans anti-Semitic & Islamophobic?
Animal advocacy, religious teaching, & cultural insecurity collide in Belgium BRUSSELS, Belgium––Is Belgium moving rapidly to ban slaughter without pre-stunning out of concern for animals? Or are prohibitions of the traditional kosher and halal slaughter methods rooted in latent anti-Semitism and Islamophobia? Slaughter without pre-stunning becomes illegal Whatever the political truth is, legal reality […]
Timothy J. Walker, 73, exposed slaughterhouse cruelty
by Gail Eisnitz, chief investigator, Humane Farming Association Timothy J. Walker, 73, died on September 10, 2018 in Naples, Florida, a little known hero for animals sent to slaughter. After graduating from St. Mary’s High School in St. Louis, Walker at age 17 joined his two first cousins in the U.S. Navy. Disaster relief Initially stationed […]
Live animal markets in New York City: a cut-throat business at best
Customs change with waves of immigration NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.––Escaping the Iranian Revolution with her parents at age 6, artist Sara Rahbar as an adult has produced an internationally recognized portfolio on themes often involving human and animal suffering. Yet Rahbar found herself wholly unprepared for the misery she met close to hand on […]